African leaders have renewed their determination to pull out of the International Criminal Court (ICC) collectively, accusing the international body of discriminating against Africans. The African leaders adopted a strategy for their collective withdrawal at the 28th African Union (AU) summit, which wrapped up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Tuesday.

A draft of the strategy, which was recited at a closed-door AU session and was later published by AP, recommends that African states build up and strengthen their own independent judicial systems. The non-binding recommendation also calls on African nations to expand the jurisdiction of the African court of justice and human rights to resolve disputes on the continent “in order to reduce the deference to the ICC.”

This is the latest expression of impatience by African leaders with the court, which some say has focused too narrowly on African leaders. Desire Assogbavi, the head of Oxfam International’s AU liaison office, confirmed the adoption of the strategy. However, analysts say African countries are divided on whether to leave the court or try to change some of its policies.

Burundi, Gambia, and South Africa have already said they no longer recognize the court’s jurisdiction and announced their intention to quit. But several other African countries, including Nigeria, Senegal and the Republic of the Congo have spoken up in support of the ICC in recent months. One of the main African supporters of the ICC is former United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan. Since the ICC was launched on July 1,  2002, it has indicted 39 people, all of whom have been African.

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The African Union has readmitted Morocco into the bloc 33 years after its withdrawal over the still existing Western Sahara dispute. The majority of the AU member states voted for the re-admission of during the 28th summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Monday, leaving the issue of the disputed territory of Western Sahara for another day.

“Morocco is now a full member of the African Union. There was a very long debate but 39 of our 54 states approved the return of Morocco, even if the Western Sahara question remains,” Senegalese President Macky Sall told reporters. “As we have said, if the family grows bigger, we can find solutions as a family,” Macky Sall added.

Algeria and South Africa were among the heavyweights that opposed the re-admission of Morocco. The country withdrew from the AU in 1984, when the mineral-rich and sparsely populated Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), commonly known as Western Sahara, was accepted as a member. Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975. It maintains that Western Sahara is an integral part of the kingdom, but the international community has not recognized the annexation.

Western Sahara is home to the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, a Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement aiming to end Moroccan presence in the territory. In 1991, Moroccan forces and Sahrawi rebels agreed on a UN-brokered truce and a referendum to settle the status of Western Sahara. However, the vote has never taken place. Some had feared Morocco would set the expulsion of the SADR  as a precondition for its own return to the AU.

“From the moment that Morocco did not impose conditions … we take their word for it and accept that Morocco be admitted to the African Union,” said SADR Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Salek. Salek said the re-admission of Morocco will help pressure the authorities into holding a referendum to “allow the Sahrawi to choose their future”.

“Now (if) Morocco is blocking (it) will be questioned by the head of states: why are you afraid of a referendum? Why don’t you allow the Sahrawi to choose their future freely?” he said. Morocco has for several years been trying to return to the body as it reportedly seeks to expand its economy. In July 2016, Moroccan King Mohammed VI officially announced plans to rejoin the African Union.

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The Gambia’s former leader, Yahya Jammeh, has left the country after finally conceding defeat in an election under increasing international pressure. Jammeh lost the presidential election in December last year to Adama Barrow but said he would not relinquish power, claiming that there had been irregularities in the vote and pushing the country to the edge of war.

West African nations, which had been peacefully trying to convince him to leave, gradually turned to the idea of removing him militarily and put a regional force on standby as the official end of Jammeh’s mandate approached. On Saturday, some two days after the expiration of his mandate, Jammeh finally announced a decision “to relinquish the mantle of leadership” and, now with his exit from The Gambia, the way was paved for President Adama Barrow to return home from neighboring Senegal, where he was inaugurated on Thursday.

Jammeh, who had taken power in a 1994 coup, demanded from the negotiators that he be given amnesty and safe passage out of The Gambia and that his political party be recognized. But no deal on amnesty was finalized with the negotiators and Jammeh was forced to go into exile.

Regional leaders did escort him into a plane, however, seeing him off into exile in Equatorial Guinea. His family and aides were to depart on a separate plane. The fate of his party was not immediately clear. During Jammeh’s reign, his government was accused of harsh treatment of opponents.

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